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Chapman's Peak Drive
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Chapman's Peak Drive, South Africa
Chapman's Peak Drive is one of the most spectacular coastal roads in South Africa. It starts at the picturesque fishing harbour of Hout Bay and then winds up to Chapman's Point, revealing breathtaking views of the sandy bays down below, until the road reaches sea level again at Noordhoek.
There are numerous parking bays and picnic spots along the road and on the slopes. A hiking trail with beautiful views leads to the Chapman's Peak (3 to 4 hours time needed; take water along).
A coast road between Hout Bay and Noordhoek, cut into sheer rock, seemed like a "mission impossible' in 1916. But Sir Nicholas De Waal - Administrator of the Cape - was a stubborn man and ordered construction to begin. With the help of convict labour, the road took 6 years to build and opened in May 1922. This stretch was blasted into the partially vertical rock and is a masterpiece of road construction. After heavy rainfalls, particularly in winter, the road had always been closed because of the danger of falling rocks. Boards in Hout Bay and Noordhoek informed the drivers. But, in late December 1999, after several rock falls had endangered road users, a motorist died as a rock crashed onto her car. The slopes of Constantiaberg and Chapman's Peak above Hout Bay were badly burned in a series of fires from 16 to 19 January 2000, only a couple of months later.
Chapman's Peak Drive was closed indefinitely. Experts discussed ways of making the road safe again, but it was a daunting prospect. But, once again 'mission impossible' was achieved, with huge wire-mesh nets to catch falling rocks and a roof over parts of the road. Chapman's Peak Drive Cape Town opened again in December 2003, but now you must pay a toll for the privilege of using this spectacular drive.
Scanned in with new Canon 8400 scanner at 2400dpi, cropped to 800x600 format, sharpened slightly USM [300,0.5,0], contrast +10, brightness -10, resized and framed.
Comments most welcome. Thanks. Tim |
Fisher, ellis49, gerhardt, nofer, elizemeijer has marked this note useful
Only registered TrekNature members may rate photo notes. |
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- Fisher
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1540 W: 309 N: 2234]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(8915) - [2005-04-14 7:51]
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Tim, this was another area my friend talked about. Thanks for sharing.
This is truely beautiful and a site to see. Awesome.!!!
Excelent capture and composition.
Mike
Beautiful landscape Tim.
Magnificent view with great colours and compostion,
Only a smaller nit, it's little noise in the BG, I think it came from the scanning.
Great work.
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- ariw
![Silver Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 29 W: 8 N: 25]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/s-n-s.gif)
(179) - [2005-04-14 11:45]
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It's beautiful, Tim! I like the composition of the dark blue color of the sea and the light blue of the sky. But I wished I could see the sea more at the left.
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- Kris
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 180 W: 0 N: 129]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
(1812) - [2005-04-14 15:57]
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Hi Tim,
I like this landscape.
Excellent colors and composition.
Interesting setting.
Well done.
Tim cracking good shot of CP. Lovely POV and compo. I love this place and I would love to go there again soon. :)
The noise can be corrected in NeatImage. It gives you a printout which you should scan and then builds a noise profile specific for your scanner. It a free download. Try a colorbalance with green +10 or +20.
Very well done.
It is beautifull.. I have been there, and i am dying to go back.. Maybe next year !!!
The water is so blue, we only see gray water..
TFS
Elize
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor [C: 190 W: 22 N: 518]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-s-n.gif)
(2009)